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Justice News

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Arizona

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Final Defendant Sentenced In‘operation Frozen Freight’

PHOENIX – On June 9, 2014, John Kweku Eshun, 52, of Ellenwood, Ga., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow to 41 months in prison. Eshun is the 12th and final defendant sentenced in Operation Frozen Freight – a multi-year investigation conducted by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). On Aug. 10, 2010, 12 defendants were charged with running a conspiracy that used a network of front businesses and warehouses, residences, cars, and semi-tractor trailers to package and ship loads of marijuana from Arizona to Ohio, then to package, ship or deposit cash proceeds from those sales. Charges in the initial and superseding indictments included multiple counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, money laundering, promotional money laundering, illegal financial transactions to further the conspiracy. The conspiracy used aliases and false business names such as “Sea of Cortez Seafood & Produce Distribution, LLC”, “Wedoito’s Hotdogs, LLC”, “AB Trucking”, and others.

The organization is alleged to have trafficked at least 50,000 pounds of marijuana and one to two tons of cocaine, generating proceeds in excess of $34 million. Federal agents seized approximately $700,000 in assets, including numerous vehicles (including a semi-tractor-trailer), guns, jewelry, and a house in the course of the investigation.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, and included the participation of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Marshal’s Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Local police agencies that assisted include the Mesa, Phoenix, Glendale, Tempe and Tucson Police Departments; the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. The investigation was also made possible by the assistance of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Imperial Police Department, U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Arizona, Nevada and Ohio and various DEA offices throughout the U.S. and in Mexico. The National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) provided extensive analysis of documents seized during the investigation.

The prosecution was handled by Karen S. McDonald and Brian Larson, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

CASE NUMBER: CR-10-1126-PHX-GMS RELEASE NUMBER: 2014-032_ Eshun

For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.